Healthy Insights

Healthy Insights launched a tool in January 2016 that harnesses "big data" to identify communities that are most in need of healthy lifestyle resources. The tool was made possible by a partnership between the MITRE Corporation and SCACED, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

SCACED hosted four regional community workshops in 2016 to spread the word about Healthy Insights and inspire healthy lifestyle innovations in underserved communities. At these workshops, local leaders and community members learned how to use the Healthy Insights data tool, offered feedback about socioeconomic and health conditions in their area, and brainstormed potential projects to improve the health of their communities. A total of 135 people attended the workshops, and SCACED maintained contact with 30+ organizations interested in future involvement with the Healthy Insights Initiative.

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$684,000

$100,000

2016 Grant Recipients

FFF will partner with the Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities (LAMC) to design and build a mobile kitchen incubator. This will allow FFF to extend the shelf life of its produce, create and sell value added products, and train area food entrepreneurs to use the kitchen in order to grow their businesses.

Midlands: Chester County Literacy Council, "Proper Nutrition 101)

This program will deliver an easy-to-understand nutritional curriculum for the population at large. Proper Nutrition 101 endeavors to raise public awareness of the diet-health relationship across diverse literacy levels. This initiative will create 100 “lay nutritionists” who gain the skillset to take active roles in their own health and the health of others.

Pathways to Health and Employment will enhance health, employment readiness and economic stability of low-income, noncustodial fathers in Marion County. By strengthening health education and increasing access to health services, the program endeavors to help participants contribute financially and emotionally to their children and communities.

This project will transform a vacant space in a Greenville transit hub into an educational and affordable farmers market storefront. The new location will impact local residents and more than 2,500 riders that pass through every day. It will also help MCM reach more at-risk youth with paid employment and learning opportunities.

History of Healthy Insights

The South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development (SCACED) began its journey in community health programming through the Faith and Food Justice Initiative which began in 2014 to increase access to healthy foods for underserved communities and specifically targeted low-access areas known as “food deserts.”

Through a partnership with the Charleston District of the United Methodist Church and the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, SCACED helped coordinate a “Faith & Food Justice Summit” in North Charleston, Summerville, and Moncks Corner to provide local residents with the knowledge and resources to develop community gardens in their respective communities. Through this partnership and connections with landowners provided through the Summits, SCACED worked to build or expand six community gardens in the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester area.

This effort increased the provision of fresh, local produce to underserved communities, supported existing food banks coordinated by participating Methodist Churches, and engaged church congregation, youth, and other community residents in the process of building and maintaining a viable community garden. This effort was the launching point for our Healthy Insights Initiative.